British International School, Phuket: Education in Paradise

Tropical beaches, exotic local markets, hidden temples, shopping malls, and a thriving international community. Phuket is a dream destination for those who mellow in the sun and thrive in the night. With an expansive expat community, abundant family-friendly opportunities, and highly regarded international schools, setting up camp on this tropical island is as lucrative as it gets. One such prominent international school which has made a name for itself for its outstanding holistic education and its remarkably strong ‘academy’ structure and facilities is the British International School, Phuket.

British International School, Phuket (BISP) is a co-educational day and boarding school, established in 1996 and set on the island of Phuket on a picturesque 44-acre campus.

The school was founded upon the vision of two well-known Thai educators, Mr. Prasit Ourairat and Dr. Arthit Ourairat. Their aim was to create a high-quality international day and boarding school on the beautiful island of Phuket.

The school was an international pioneer for partnerships with the UK independent school sector and became the founding Dulwich International College.

In 2005, the Board of Governors decided to broaden the school and also took the opportunity to change its name to British International School, Phuket (BISP).

BISP has the capacity to provide education for over 1000 day and boarding students and currently educates 60 diﬀerent student nationalities, with its alumni graduating from many top universities from around the world.

Primary and secondary students share a lush green, well-equipped campus.

The Campus Facilities

Arts:

2 Art Rooms
4 Music Rooms
1 Drama Studio
1 Auditorium
1 Primary Hall
Music Practice Rooms

STEM:

4 DT Workshops
6 Science Labs
2 IT Labs
Primary Cooking Room

Sports:

Sports Hall
Gymnasium
Fitness Centre
2 full-size Football Pitches or 12 seven-side Pitches
Tennis Centre
Golf Centre
Trapeze
25m and 50m Swimming Pool
400m grass Athletics Track

General Facilities:

Separate Primary and Secondary libraries
Food refectory with chef
8 boarding houses
5 security-controlled school entrances
Facial and thermal recognition technology throughout the school
2 medical inﬁrmaries

The aim in boarding is to foster a supportive and caring community for students from Year 4 to Year 13, where the students value belonging to a wider family. Boarders learn how to live, to work, to take on responsibility, and socialise in an internationally diverse community.

Boarding houses provide easy access to educational and sporting facilities.

Houseparents are allocated to speciﬁc houses/age groups relevant to their background and experience and represent the following countries: Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Philippines, France, UK, Brazil, and Korea.

Mission

Inspire Learning; Nurture Wellbeing; Ignite Passion

Vision

Maximise student potential by delivering the highest standards of teaching and learning to an international community emphasising wellbeing and passion, on a green, well-equipped campus

Values

Respect

Be mindful, considerate, and inclusive

Compassion

Be caring, empathetic, and reﬂective

Integrity

Be honest, principled, and accountable

Triple Helix

The educational philosophy of the British International School, Phuket is uniquely founded upon the model of a Triple Helix, where each of the three strands (Learning, Wellbeing and Passion) is identiﬁed as being interdependent and essential components of a balanced and productive life.

Learning at BISP is ‘holistic’, in that it cultivates the social, emotional, physical, and cognitive dimensions of the developing child.

While schools organise learning in ‘academic’ and ‘enrichment’ programmes, BISP does not limit learning to within the walls of any particular classroom or within the boundaries of any particular ‘subject’. The school understands that learning happens everywhere at any time. Its model for holistic learning aims to develop the whole child and to instil a lifelong love of learning through active engagement.

Wellbeing

Holistic education at BISP places ‘wellbeing’ at the heart of its learning community. Students ﬁnd identity, meaning, and purpose, that lead to personal growth and fulﬁlment.

In the Primary Section, the two driving concepts of ‘respect’ and ‘kindness’ are used as a basis for all relationships and interactions. In the Secondary Section, the school directs attention to ‘wellbeing’ through the concepts of ‘Engage’, ‘Relate’ and ‘Shine’. A well-deﬁned and delivered framework founded upon these ‘pillars’ is the basis for academic staﬀ and student participation throughout the school.

Passion

‘Passion’ is deﬁned in terms of an individual’s capacity to embrace life itself, even though this might manifest itself in a singular pursuit. It is what drives people, motivates, and gives purpose. At BISP, students are encouraged to follow their passions with energy and enthusiasm and to value the process of their experience as much as the outcome of their eﬀort and achievement.

The home away from home

As a boarding student at BISP, your child will join a safe, caring, and supportive community with 24/7 adult supervision. Your child will beneﬁt from a structured, balanced lifestyle, a strong sense of community, a multicultural environment, and the opportunity to build makes the most of their tropical island location with supervised weekend boarding trips.

Facilities of boarding

All young people need a safe haven to escape to at times, and BISP boarders enjoy the privacy of their own personal study bedroom; a private space that they can use ﬂexibly and can personalise to suit their school day and weekend downtime. Each room is equipped with a single bed, study desk, wardrobe, chest of drawers and boasts ample space for decoration, and from home personal touches. Older students also enjoy access to en suite bathroom facilities.

BISP boarding houses feature large communal spaces in which students can relax, study, and socialise together.

Multi-cultural community

With over sixty student nationalities at BISP, boarders become part of a diverse multicultural community. This breadth of cultural backgrounds encourages open-mindedness, adaptability, and an appreciation for the perspectives of others, as well as expanding student horizons.

BISP boarders have the opportunity to make friends for life as well as assume both personal and social accountability within their international community. The BISP boarding community becomes a support network for life; a global family with shared and treasured memories.

Meet the Team

At BISP, they maintain a team approach with regards to the student body as a whole. The Headmaster, school principals, boarding staﬀ, teachers, wellbeing team, coaches, and support staﬀ all work cooperatively to ensure that a student’s life is balanced and well-cared for.

A Truly Holistic Experience

BISP oﬀers an extensive activities programme, fully utilising the exceptional grassed spaces, vast facilities and staﬀ expertise. The programme caters for the needs and passions of students whilst giving them the opportunity to sample a wide range of new experiences. Professional coaches oversee the swimming, football, tennis, golf, aerial arts, and trapeze activities from basic to high performance level.

There are more than 300 activity sessions per week. Some of the major activities that attract a high number of students include:

Sports: Football, Basketball, Tennis; Golf, Swimming (both Competitive and Learn to Swim), Badminton, Gymnastics.

Circus Arts: Trapeze, Silks.

Arts: Musical productions, Pantomime, Drama Club, Concert bands, Cantamus Choirs, instrumental tuition, Art Academy.

Others: Fun ﬁeld games, Cooking, Public Speaking and Debate, MUN, Chess club

In line with our mission, the BISP team encourages students to ignite passion and to follow their dreams.

The Pandemic Holdup

On the island of Phuket, BISP considers itself to be very fortunate to close the school for a very short time only. The school established best practices against covid-19 which the community adhered to in a positive and safe way. Online learning was managed by teachers, who had video contact with students in every lesson. This high level of engagement ensured students were monitored and able to access the diﬀerent methods of educational instruction. Surveys enabled the faculty to gather feedback and to continually improve instruction.

A bright future awaits

This year the school will celebrate 25 years of education. Having developed a new mission, vision, and values, BISP looks forward to the board announcing a future plan of development for its educational oﬀerings and facilities.